The Haymarket Affair was the consequence of the event that took place on May 4, 1886, in Chicago and was a part of the labor movement for the eight-hour workday. It started peacefully and ended in blood after somebody threw the dynamite at the policemen who tried to prevent the riot. The Haymarket Affair played a crucial part in the failure of the achievements of American working unions. This paper aims to discuss the main roots and results of the Haymarket Affair for American workers between the Civil War and the end of the nineteenth century. How and why did this event represent a major turning point for the American labor movement?
After the death of Abraham Lincoln and the emancipation of slaves, the issue of the employer-employee relations assumed a new aspect. The idea of the eight-our working day became especially challenging against the background of the growth of Chicago manufacturing and the appearing of the iron rails that provided cooperation between the city and its regions. As Green writes, “The inauguration of the eight-hour system . . . would create new time for the kind of education workers needed to become more effective producers and more active citizens” (Green 32). However, employers argued against the eight-our workday, as they were afraid that the reduction of working hours would lead to the decrease of the production level and profit. Furthermore, technological progress led to the partial reduction of employees and wages. As the result, the level of hunger in the country increased, and the above-mentioned issues culminated in the appearing of riots and protests, the cooperation of workers, and the rise of the American labor movement. Quoting the governor of Illinois, John Peter Altgeld, Green offers this reason as one of the historical explanations of the events occurred on May 4, 1886. Before the Haymarket Affair, the country had experienced serious labor troubles. The workers had wanted to defend their rights, but the police had often invaded the peaceful meetings without having authorities of law and had used brutal ways of driving them off. According to Altgeld, “The laboring people found the prisons always open to receive them, but the courts were practically closed to them” (Green 156). Moreover, one should note that anarchists, socialists, and communists advocated the dismantlement of the capitalist system as found it unfair and exploit and also take part in the Haymarket riot.
Being the part of the American labor movement for the eight-hour workday, the Haymarket Affair surprisingly influenced the accomplishments of the worker unions in a negative way. Before this event, the American labor movement had reached several goals regarding the legalization of the eight-hour system. For instance, by the end of April 1886, about 47,000 workers in Chicago had received the shorter workday without significant decreases in the level of wages (Green 194). Moreover, Dwight L. Moody predicted the further expansion of the largest American working movement Knights of Labor and the bringing out the English-speaking workers (Green 208). However, the further work of the labor movement was impossible. The Haymarket Affair led to the disintegration of the United Labor Party and the serious weakening of the Knights of Labor. Furthermore, it led to the cancellation of the movement’s accomplishments. Green writes, “Chicago union members who had gained shorter hours in May 1886 now faced employers determined to stretch them out again” (Green 308). Most strikers were isolated, and nobody could prevent the attempts of the employers to return the ten-hour workday as well as promote the other better working conditions.
One should note that one more aftermath of the Haymarket Affair was the spread of xenophobia. Chicago newspapers encouraged and supported the trial over anarchists who had been responsible for the riot and recognized them as a threat to stable society. For example, the famous Chicago newspaper Tribune reported, “The Haymarket bomb had shattered the Internationals’ attempt to build a unified movement of the skilled and unskilled through a general strike” (Green 308). As the result, the level of the hatred towards foreign employees and labor movements across the country significantly increased.
At the same time, anarchists and supporters of the American labor movement kept the opposite point of view. Quoting John Swinton, Green states that the Chicago police used violence to prevent the further drive for the eight-hour workday, and the thrown bomb could either be aimed either against the enemies of the labor workers or against the goals the labor movement strived to accomplish (Green 252). The judicial trial divided the sides of the conflict, which resulted in completely opposite evidence on appeal. Moreover, while some people yielded to the suggestion of newspapers and authorities and shared the anti-labor sentiment, the others supported the faultlessness of the convicted and sentenced to death men and accepted them as martyrs.
Talking about the reasons of the Haymarket Affair, Altgeld states, “While some men may tamely submit to being clubbed and seeing their brothers shot down, there are some who will resent it, and will nurture a spirit of hatred and seek revenge for themselves” (Green 156). It is hard to say if this event could be avoided or not, but one could be sure that the Haymarket Affair was the turning point of the American labor movement. Being characterized with such negative outcomes as the relaxation of the movement and the loss of its accomplishments, the riot also resulted in the growth of anger and the tense relations between employers, employees, and the government. Its long-term consequences include the revival of the American labor movement and its further expansion. With the course of time, the execution of the Haymarket Affair leaders became not the win of democracy over anarchy but the betrayal of “the American ideal of liberty and justice for all” (Green 386).
Works Cited
Green, James. Death in the Haymarket. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2007. iBooks edition.
